Combining hobbies

Well, last weekend I borrowed a stand from a friend to put together my latest bicycle. I think I have finally graduated from the stage in life where I am okay working on the floor or on a bike hanging from the rafters. I t was bugging me not having a place to work on the bike. Well, Erin would have my head if I went out and purchased a new stand. So I thought about it for a couple of minutes. Light goes on upstairs. Hey, I could make something cheap and sturdy pretty snappy. I could also use that 300lb work bench as my base.

One benefit of being off the bike and taking up a new hobby, woodworking, is that I can fairly quickly do crude work now. Something like a bike workstand becomes very simple. I am not going to claim I busted this out in 30 minutes, but it took less than 2 hours from brainfart to bike holding

Construction materials:
1 - 2x4x12ft
1 - 3/8in T-nut
1 - 3/8in eye bolt
20+/- - wood screws
2sqft - scrap mdf 3/4in
3 - Washers
1 - 3/4in oak dowel approx 8in
3" - 3/8in steel rod for alignment (so the jaw can't rotate)

Build is simple. Double up the 2x4, or just start with 4x4. Use the mdf to make corner braces. I then used a scrap of poplar to create the clamp jaw. I use an eye bolt and T-nut to create the clamp pressure and a 3/8in steel rod to keep it from rotating. I mounted that up and then drilled through the middle of the clamp joint with a 1in drill bit. After drilling I relieved the outer sides to make getting the bike in and out quicker.

Now of course you have to have a vise that is strong enough to hold the stand. I suppose you could build this stand off of a wall stud or clamp/screw it to something as well. I have a twin screw wood vise on my bench. I can raise and lower the stand in the vise. I can also angle it in the vise to rotate the front wheel up if needed.







And a shot of the whole bench set up in bike wrenching mode:


Then of course there is Zoe, shop helper. She is cool with bikes and likes to hang out in the garage.